Saying No to Drugs in Europe

Widespread distribution of the Church’s drug information booklets began in Europe in 1997, with the first publication of “Drugs: The Truth About Joints.” Since then more than 9.6 million copies of the booklets have been distributed throughout Europe, from France and Spain to Italy, Greece, Hungary and the United Kingdom.

Booklets are routinely given out by state and local government officials, police, educators, shop owners, nightclubs and tens of thousands of general public who see them as an effective tool for educating young people on the dangers of drugs.

For example, more than 600,000 copies of the “The Truth About Joints” booklets have flooded Germany, Switzerland and Austria, where widespread use of marijuana and hashish is a major problem. Copies of the booklet were mailed out to members of parliament, police stations, doctors, schools, local shopkeepers, libraries, churches, parents and counseling groups.

After receiving their initial copies, more than 4,000 police stations and 5,000 doctors in Germany wrote in asking for more booklets to distribute. Many police distribute the publications in their stations or while giving anti-drug lectures to students.

“Every day we hear young people tell us that smoking marijuana is less dangerous than drinking beer,” said one German police officer. “We are very happy to have this booklet as now we can give them true information about that drug.”

In France, more than 5.1 million copies of the booklets have been distributed by local shop owners and in discos where the use of ecstasy and other club drugs is rampant. Shopkeepers and nightclub owners regularly distribute copies of the booklets to their clientele.

In Italy, volunteers regularly hold special “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” events, where children and adults are encouraged to sign the Say No to Drugs Honor Roll and pledge to remain drug-free. In Novara, volunteers distributed more than 6,000 copies of the booklet during one event. In Padova, a university professor who received copies of the booklets took them to school administrators to close them on distributing the booklets on campus and posting copies on school notice boards. In Falconi, police asked for 1,900 copies of the booklets to be delivered to police stations and schools throughout the city.